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for your trials and tribulations 

A question I often get, goes something like this, “Oh Pastor, what are we going to do? You know, attendance isn’t what it used to be...”

Of course I never begrudge anyone for asking that question. In fact, I am glad the questioner cares enough to at least ask. The problem I have with the question, though, is that it assumes our predicament is incomprehensible and that the only possible solution will come from hiring an outside expert...

It’s those assumptions hidden beneath the question that give me pause.

The truth is, Jesus began his whole enterprise with twelve folks who were decidedly unprofessional; fishers, outcasts, deniers and betrayers. All in all, pretty common people...

Furthermore, you didn’t call me as an expert in organizational growth; you called me to proclaim Christ and him crucified. 

The problem is that the way we agonize over the plight of the church, and we aren’t alone, doesn’t serve us well  because it misses the mark. Our handwringing inflates the problem, shifts the responsibility, and ignores the power of the Message we’ve been commissioned with. 

The truth is, the solution to our predicament isn’t that complicated...

First, it’s simply caring enough.

Pastors don’t like saying this kind of thing, but when I asked for you all to give me ideas for sermon-series, I got two -two- requests. That’s all. If we don’t care about what’s preached; if our most pressing concern is just that we sing songs that are easy and don’t sing for too long; than I hate to tell you, but we’re already done. Might as well just hire a chaplain and begin the process of shuttering our doors, closing.

If we don’t care enough to do something ourselves; then, frankly, there is no solution to the diminished attendance. You all can ask me over and over again what we should do, but until we all care enough to act; nothing will happen. Ideas won’t won’t save this place.

Furthermore, the truth is, if we do care enough to do something, the solution isn’t far from us. 

Honestly, we all already know the solution to our diminished attendance; and it isn’t rocket-science either... It’s simply putting one foot in front of the other, and beating the streets.

The deeper truth, though, is that the church has suffered a crisis of confession lately. 

We aren’t sure the message we’ve been given is relevant any longer, and that makes getting our message out there even harder. The fact of the matter, though, is this message Jesus came announcing addresses the burning question everyone must contend with; then as well as now. 

See, it doesn’t matter if the person is an atheist or conflicted Christian, if they assume Christianity is the root of all our problems or that lack of it is the source; everyone is trapped trying wrestling with God.

As Bono, of U2, sings; “I can’t live, with or without you.” We’re either running toward or away from God. No matter what, though, we have to run; run for our very lives...

But you already knew that, though, didn’t you?

The truth is, that same Word that grasped you one day as you sat in the pew thinking about anything else, ended the wrestling match, the marathon. That same Word of freedom is the the very world is longing to hear. 

Here’s the thing, though, and I’m not the first to pose this rhetorical question. As St. Paul put it, how can anyone trust this God if they don’t get to hear the Word that grasped you? In other words, if we’re not proclaiming this God, how will anyone stop running and encounter the God who isn’t angry but reconciling, creating relationships?

See, we’re not on foot-patrol recruiting members to theTrinity social-club. No, we’re wearing our soles out proclaiming the message we’ve been entrusted with, proclaiming the Good News that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. To give his life as a ransom.

The truth is, what’s at stake isn’t our little social club, it’s salvation. What’s at stake is the ringing of this reckless proclamation that God forgives sinners; the Good News that if any want to meet the God who ends the wrestling and running by being for us, we can set the date up.

The floundering of our churches isn’t because our message is irrelevant; it is because we’ve squandered the message we’ve been entrusted with, as the our corporate confession puts it. The honest to God truth is, the world is longing for this message. 

I can speak from experience. I grew up in a church where the message was always that God was just waiting around the corner to zap you. When I was in college, I wholeheartedly flung all that off. I wasn’t indifferent to God, I wanted nothing to do with God. And the truth is, I wasn’t alone - I wasn’t the only young adult running from God, navigating my course by getting as far away from the church as possible. 

Thankfully, though, God sent a preacher into the middle of running. When I heard this message that we’re all so content to fold up with our bulletin and toss in the recycling; my life changed. I’m not kidding. 

So this message you’ve been entrusted with isn’t irrelevant, it’s the message the World is dying to hear. If corporations can capitalize on this fact, we should be out there giving the real thing away for nothing!

A pastor I know talks about how hard it was to steel herself up to claim and proclaim this message. What she ended up doing, was the same thing she did whenever she went speed-dating...

For her, speed-dating was miserable. When the gentleman sat across the table from her for five-minutes, she never knew what to say and she always assumed the fellow couldn’t wait to leave her table and go on to the next. One time, though, before she went speed dating, she took a card and wrote down all the reasons she was a catch. Armed with that simple reminder, speed dating became a totally different experience. 

So you, you who are shy, you who aren’t sure if our mission is worth sharing, I want you to do something; take one of the notecards and write down why this Good News of God’s forgiveness saved you.

Go ahead.

Now tell me, don’t you believe with every fiber that what you wrote down begs to be shouted from every rooftop and whispered into every ear?

Here’s the thing, this tradition we all claim, isn’t a tradition of potlucks, bake-sales or nice gatherings. If that were what we are about, it wouldn’t be worth sharing. 

The tradition we do claim, though, is one of proclaiming the scandalous news that God isn’t angry, but forgiving - forgiving of everyone; right now, no matter what. And that’s a tradition that begs to be shared.

Martin Luther was a man who was familiar with the same God problem we have these days. He knew that we can’t live without God. He did everything he could to reconcile himself to God, but everything humanity had to prescribe failed. So he also learned that we can’t live with God. 

Martin tried everything our systems had to offer, even becoming a monk and following the order extremely diligently. Not even that worked, though. So finally, he had to admit, he hated this God he couldn’t reconcile himself to. But then, God sent a preacher into the middle of poor Martin’s running, St. Paul.

As Martin read St. Paul’s epistle, he found the resolution to the God problem is already solved by God. Nothing we do, run to or away from God, can solve the problem. In fact, our efforts only make things worse. So instead, God runs to humans and embodies our problem, and dies by the hands of it, and rises to reconcile our estrangement with God. 

This changed everything. It changed Martin’s life, and it even changed the course of history. It compelled Martin to proclaim this message. Yes, his proclamation caused him considerable conflict and difficulties. The wonder of it, though, is that against all odds, nothing could silence this proclamation.

So here we stand now, nearly 500 years later in the unstoppable legacy of that proclamation. 

In fact, at Trinity Lutheran we don’t take our legacy from an ethnic heritage or congregational conflict. Our legacy comes from nothing other than that commitment to proclaim the same message that captivated Martin Luther so many years ago. 

Back in 1884, 14 people found themselves so captivated by this Word that they dared to begin a mission around nothing other than proclaiming the Good News in people’s native language. 

Just as that proclamation was the only thing Martin Luther staked his entire life on, so this proclamation is the only reason Trinity was formed, and it will be the only reason we will stand.

Earlier I said the first response to our decline is just caring enough. Well, just like what happened to me in college, or Martin Luther in his cell, happened to St. Paul first.

This thing that happened, creates saints who can’t help but care, who can’t help but hit the streets proclaiming the only thing that ends the tortured wrestling and our ragged running. This thing that happened is that Jesus shows up. Jesus shows up and from nothing other the carcass of a sinner created saints who couldn’t do anything but proclaim this mighty work of God.

And this thing, it’s going to happen you, right now.

As you’re sitting here, wondering what you’ll eat first; God intervenes. God sends a Word declaring that Jesus takes all your apathy or worse acrimony, and suffers all the consequences of it. Jesus, however, is not bound by it the way we are, and so Jesus is raised from the death of our indolence and antipathy for us, and that’s our peace with God.

Therefore, I declare unto you, the entire forgiveness of all your sins by the authority of the only one who has the power to make such an absurd promise, Jesus Christ and him crucified; Jesus Christ who came not to be served, but to serve; Jesus Christ who gives himself for the ransom we set; Jesus Christ who is our very peace with God.

Amen